In the practice of Yoga, the prime resolve is to understand the essence of the self and how to unify the limited mind to be one with the limitless Self. Yog means union from the lower self, ego towards that inner self – Soul and finally towards the universal self, the Param-atma (beyond consciousness) – the spirit, supreme energy or the divine settled within us. The singularity of the form into its absolute formlessness, from the microcosm to the macrocosm, from matter and consciousness to its nothingness in dark matter and energy of which we all are a part, is the prime subject behind the eight processes defined by Ashtang Yoga

Without the sealant of consciousness, neither Yoga nor meditation is complete. Spiritual Yoga is the fundamental and the eventual goal of human existence unless we wish to remain in distress, disharmony, discord and dissent in the manner we exist today. The physical self refers to perception and performance. The mental represents your memory, emotions and intellect conjoining into your ego – the false self as ‘I’. The third being the soul is the spiritual self which comprises the super-conscious section where no thoughts prevail.

The world today is not concerned with philosophical aspects on the nature of the self, regarding the soul, spirit or beingness – that awareness which gives rise to everything that our mind knows, understands and experiences. Science is desperately trying to unravel the mystery behind consciousness – the fundamental essence of all beings, the consciousness which awakens and activates the mind and the body. Science is ignorant of this third aspect of our body, mind and soul, unaware of the soul’s role in the relative characteristics of an individual body, mind and spirit. Spiritual Yoga educates us to understand, experience and realize the functioning of the soul besides the body and the mind of which we are so well aware.

What is the purpose of living this life if we do not care to know the specifics behind the actual spiritual self? After all, we are spiritual being going through human experiences. In ignorance, we liberally use and abuse the word soul as and when we feel like it. The mind is an operating system within which the memory and the intellect keep churning past data from here and there through its subconscious section (lower consciousness). Transmitting information through neural pathways via neurons activates the process of thinking. The soul, on the other hand makes the mind aware. After that, if the mind is conscious, it initiates thoughts, gradually surrendering to emotional desires for the subconscious (lower) section to take over to determine actions as directed by its memory and intellect, which means from past thoughts, the mind projects that subconsciously into the future bypassing the present. The role of the soul is to prompt the mind in the presence of now – the present moment. This higher aspect is the essence of spiritual Yoga in meditative awareness.

Through its subconscious level, the mind provides a persona (the false self) maturing into an intellectual personality depending upon the copy-paste data obtained from the external material world. The soul offers spontaneous, intelligent data instinctively in the now, making you unique from all others, which forms your uniqueness/individuality in due course. Fresh and creative knowledge emerges from the soul and spirit domain, which is not dependent on your memory and intellect. The soul is that transcendental superconscious zone or the silent, unconscious section of the brain responsible for spontaneously making the mind aware. After that, the mind becomes conscious of perceiving what it captures from its sensory self. Means soul is that which spontaneously proacts, and the rest of the mind merely reacts desirously in emotions, selfishly for the sake of the material world to accumulate, attach and adorn in the list of ‘me and ‘mine’.

Self-knowledge pertains to that complex understanding of knowing thyself beyond body and mind. The mind is free from its identifications and attachments once the soul is awakened to realize you are beyond the body and mind. We refer to the soul as the Witness-er. It merely witnesses all that is happening, watching blissfully all that the mind desirously perceives and conceives in lower consciousness for its material or ego-self. Therefore, it is not you as the spirit but your mind which is required to evolve and transform. Transcendence is for the mind to experience and effectuate into higher consciousness by awakening the soul from its dormant state.

An essential spiritual yoga posture is sitting cross-legged by gripping the thumb and index finger in a circle, keeping the other three fingers straight, and placing the hands on the thighs. The middle finger represents intellect, the ring finger represents the mind and emotions, and the little finger represents the physical body. The thumb is for Supreme Consciousness, and the index finger represents the ego. The purpose of meditation and Yoga is to merge the ego with the Supreme, symbolized by joining the index finger and thumb. From self-mastery to self-realization, we require a particular discipline to enhance self-consciousness. Yoga has many processes, out of which transcending the lower consciousness towards the higher is the final goal of human existence.

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